a real deficit reduction. 70% of the american people support that. they can't even come to terms with that. they seem to have not noticed the republicans that we did have an election. the president campaigned on this question of continuing tax cuts for the middle class but raising them back to the clinton rates -- returning to the clinton rates for the top 2%. he pledged that he would veto anything but that. and he will. so until the republicans agree to those clinton-era rates, we are going to go off the fiscal cliff. >> you know, it's interesting, ari, you'll remember this because you were the white house press secretary in 2001 and 2003 when those bush-era tax rates were approved basically by republicans, very few democrats voted to approve those bush-era tax cuts. so why not do what the republican congressman from oklahoma says, what paul just said, go ahead, declare victory. say, look, all these democrats are now on board, they support for 98% of the american people the bush-era tax rates for a long time to come, declare victory and move on. >>